I know it states that programming knowledge isn't really needed but throughout the course you do write useful bash scripts. If I were in your position I'd get a better grasp on using your choice of an IDE (Muts uses nano throughout the course I believe) to write bash scripts.

I've just signed up for the OffSec101 course starting 13th July. At the moment I'm bouncing around like a kiddy at christmas waiting for it to start

Basically I was looking for some advice from those that have already taken (or currently taking) the course with regard to the best way to study the material.

Also from posts I've read here and elsewhere the final exam sounds a bit evil. Any advice on which aspects of the material to learn 100% would also be apreciated.

Thanks in advance, just hoping talking about the course may calm me down some RR

just watch the videos, read, and work thru the labs and ask questions after you do some thinking and googling. I found some of the people (non-offsec people) in the forums and irc to be less than helpful. kind of annoying.

Cheers for the responses guys, just got access to the course material today (wish I was at work, the download would be faster ) Printer is currently in overdrive

KrisTeason wrote:I know it states that programming knowledge isn't really needed but throughout the course you do write useful bash scripts. If I were in your position I'd get a better grasp on using your choice of an IDE (Muts uses nano throughout the course I believe) to write bash scripts.

Hopefully the programming section shouldn't be too much of an issue, I come from a development/Linux admin background so know the basics. (plus I use nano too )

ChrisG wrote:just watch the videos, read, and work thru the labs and ask questions after you do some thinking and googling. I found some of the people (non-offsec people) in the forums and irc to be less than helpful. kind of annoying.

I've been hanging around in the irc channel for a few days, seem to be similar to most communication places on the web. Plenty of useful helpful people providing you can take the high-road and ignore some of the less usefull comments.

I got access to the course material yesterday and so far it's great. I've watched the videos for the first two modules and gone through the exercises (inc. extra mile) for module 1.

Haven't had too much opportunity to hit the labs yet due to the nature of the first few modules. But from what I've seen there is plenty to play with and I can't wait to get more involved. I'm having to try really hard to stick with the course material and not just dive straight in with hacking around the lab.

Biggest issue I've had so far is getting my head around using Leo. Think I'm starting to figure it out and I'm starting to see the benefit of using it. Just wish there was some mention of Leo in some of the preperation material so I could have gained experience before getting the material. If any one is planning on taking the course spend at least a bit of time looking at Leo for documentation.

ChrisG wrote:its trying to teach you to document, which is important once you start taking a look at alot hosts and then trying to remember what was open on what and what was vulnerable to what, etc.

Kev wrote:Documentation is so important specially working with a large network. Leo is not the only way to keep notes, but it does give you that nice "tree" effect.

Agreed guys, I'm starting to get the hang of it. The 'tree' view seems to fit in with how my brain works. Also it's nice (and extremely useful) to slowly see the information gathered about the network grow as you work through the activities.

Easiest way to learn (at least for me) is just to play with it. Mutz has a nice video showing it's us to document pen-test findings, not sure if it is world viewable or students only. If I can find a public link I'll update.

Just got my OSCP over the weekend! I am on cloud freakin nine right now. What a wildly fun class. The only thing I have to say (and I hope the instructors aren't reading this) is that I found the exam to not be as difficult as people were letting on. As long as you relax and don't let yourself get overwhelmed (and provided you did the coursework), it should just be more of the same. A 24-hour test, and within 8 hours I had already passed.

Good luck to everyone else who is taking or thinking about taking this fantastic course!